


close as strangers

by grattiss12



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Michael Loves Luke, Sad, its kind of sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-08
Updated: 2015-07-08
Packaged: 2018-04-08 08:13:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4297269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grattiss12/pseuds/grattiss12
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Michael recognizes the taste of heartache when Luke leaves</p>
            </blockquote>





	close as strangers

Michael recognizes the taste of heartache when Luke leaves; it’s a little like the taste of vodka and burns just as bad, Michael knows the feeling well. When the door shuts and all 6’2 of the best thing Michael’s ever had walks out of his life he is surprised at the numbness in his chest. He can taste it in his mouth, but he’s not sure it reaches past his throat; _he’ll come back_ , Michael tells himself, _he’ll come back, he’ll come back._

He doesn’t.

***

Michael has Luke pressed into the bed, knees on either side of his hips. Sunlight peeks in through the blinds, and the comforter is tangled up in between Luke’s legs.

“Got you,” Michael pins Luke’s hands above his head, leaning down to press sloppy kisses onto his exposed throat. Luke laughs and scrunches up his neck when Michael’s lips ghost over a ticklish spot.

“Yeah,” Luke is all smiles and sunrises and Michael is in love. They spend lazy hours in bed and Luke makes banana pancakes while Michael curls back into the sheets. Michael is dripping happiness like honey and Luke tastes like maple syrup for the rest of the day.

***

Luke plucks at his guitar strings like he’s afraid that with every note Michael will love him less. He’s shaky and nervous and Michael knows how hard it is to trust someone with something you love.

“It’s beautiful, baby,” Michael’s voice is quiet because it is; it’s so beautiful and Luke wrote it, and he’s beautiful and Michael wants to spend the rest of his life like this.

“I wrote it for you,” Luke’s eyes meet his and he bites at his lip ring nervously; Michael’s heart swells and _he’s not going the cry._

“This is what you sound like to me,” Michael cries, and tries to cover it up with a watery smile. Luke runs his fingers through Michael’s hair when he stops and they listen to the rain hit the windowpane until they fall asleep.

If Michael’s life were expressed in colours, today would be the same shade of blue as Luke’s eyes.

***

Luke tells Michael that sometimes people change until their pieces no longer fit together properly; Michael bites his lip and nods like he agrees. His hands shake from the effort of keeping his composure as Luke explains that he isn’t the same person he was a year ago, as much as he’s tried to pretend he is. He tells Michael that twenty feels so much heavier than nineteen and the weight of it all is pressing down on his shoulders.

 _I’ll carry it,_ Michael wants to say.

“Do you love me?” he asks instead, Luke smiles the saddest smile Michael’s ever seen.

“I’m not sure love has anything to do with it.”

***

Michael spends his days watching the door for signs of Luke’s return; he spends so much time seeing it closed, he nearly forgets it was ever open. He wonders if he stays in this apartment long enough if he’ll start to wilt the way the flower’s on the table did two weeks ago; there was nothing beautiful about the decay but Michael doesn’t throw them out on the off chance they come back to life.

 _Do you love me? Do you love me? Do you love me?_ The flowers seem to ask him when he stumbles out of bed every morning, as if that can save them from drying out.

 _Yes_ , Michael answers, _but I’m not sure love has anything to do with it._

**Author's Note:**

> this made me sad  
> (sorry it's so short)


End file.
